iStock(HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.) — The husband of a camper who went missing Friday along with her small dog is not connected to her disappearance, according to authorities in California.
The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that Sheryl Powell’s family “has been, and continues to be, extremely cooperative.”
In a post on its Facebook page, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office said that searchers were entering their fourth day of looking for Sheryl Powell, 60, of Huntington Beach.
She and her small, 5-pound dog were reported missing Friday by her husband at the Grandview Campground in the Bristlecone Pine Forest area.
Authorities said that after Sheryl Powell and her husband picked a remote campsite, she got out of the vehicle to walk the dog so it could relieve itself while her husband re-parked their Jeep.
When he finished, Sheryl Powell’s husband could not find her or their dog, authorities said. After about an hour of searching on his own, he reached out to law enforcement via his satellite device, they said.
Authorities described Sheryl Powell as an experienced hiker who is 5 foot, 3 inches tall, 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Her dog has a red leash and is black and white, authorities said. The campground is located at 8,600 feet and is the closest campground to the ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.
“Challenges include multiple gullies, shale slopes, low shade, direct sun and rattlesnakes,” the sheriff’s office said.
On Monday, Sheryl Powell’s children, Farrah and Greg Powell, told ABC News that their parents went on remote camping trips once or twice a month. Greg Powell said his parents had left on Friday and planned to return Sunday to have dinner at his home in Hermosa Beach on Monday.
“They liked to camp away from other people — that’s nothing new. They had gone just under a mile on this dirt road past the main camp site, found a really nice site off the road there that they liked. So they pulled in front, facing forward to check it out. Both got out of the car, decided they really loved the camp site. And then they — my mom and our dog Miley — got out of the car to stand in the shade and my dad went down the hill, did a five-point turn and came up backwards on the hill so they could facilitate unloading the vehicle. When they (his father) came back, they were gone without a trace,” Greg Powell said. “He said, the next 45 minutes, at least, laying on the horn, blowing on the whistle, frantically hiking around in circles where she was last seen and no trace of her, anything. So that’s when he set off the S.O.S. device, send the message.”
Greg Powell said that his mother had nothing with her when she vanished besides the dog and that she has a bad leg, making it hard for her to run fast.
Still, Farrah Powell said, her mother has a great sense of direction and is very resourceful.
“Our main concern for her is that she had nothing on her — no water, no food, absolutely nothing,” she said.
Greg Powell said authorities had also not seen any large animal prints or any signs of struggle or blood in the area around where his mother disappeared.
The public was asked to contact the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office if they had any information that could help searchers find Powell.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.